Thursday, March 28, 2013

Number of cancelled Toronto parking tickets rose last year

TORONTO - Almost 25% of all parking tickets issued last year were cancelled by the city.

According to a report going to the government management committee next month, the city doled out 2.76 million parking tickets in 2012 — down around 2.5% from the previous year.

But 633,108 or 23% of those tickets were cancelled for various reasons and that represents a 5.5% increase in cancellations compared to 2011.

Staff said 199,215 tickets were cancelled by the courts, 143,812 by revenue services staff for time allowances and other reasons, 131,562 due to out-of-province licence plates and owner information being unavailable, 97,356 because the driver drove away before the officer served the tag, 50,113 due to “plate errors,” 5,622 due to errors on the parking tag, 4,914 due to incomplete information, and 514 tickets were scrapped because they were illegible.

The cancellations are on the rise in part because of the change in the parking ticket grace period from five minutes to 10 minutes. Council approved the change last July and allowed for the cancellation of some tickets, the report noted.

Toronto drivers may also be more aware of the rules around getting a ticket cancelled.

“As the existence of the City’s Parking Ticket Cancellation Guidelines becomes better known among the public, it is expected that the number of cancellations would increase,” the report stated.